Where Everybody in Richmond, VA is Moving From

If you want to work in government, law or finance, your first instinct might be to move to New York City or Washington, D.C., but there’s another option a little to the south: Richmond.

The city is home to the capital of Virginia, one of 13 U.S. courts of appeal and one of 12 Federal Reserve Banks.

In fact, some New Yorkers and Washingtonians (from the nation’s capital, not the Pacific Northwest) are moving to Richmond. They aren’t alone, either; people are also moving to Richmond in large numbers from New Jersey, Florida and Maryland.

Let’s back up a little before we look at those numbers in detail. Between July 2015 and July 2016, the Richmond metro area’s population grew from 1,270,414 to 1,281,708, a .89 percent increase, according to the latest census data. During that time, the population of the city of Richmond grew even more quickly, going from 219,628 to 223,170, a 1.61 percent increase. (Virginia has both counties and independent cities, which aren’t part of any county. Richmond is an independent city.)

Not all of that growth comes from people moving in, of course. Some of it comes from births in the area, but plenty of Americans are moving to Richmond. In fact, another census study found that between 2011 and 2015, 23,447 people moved to the city from elsewhere—and it indicated where those people are moving from.

Almost three quarters of domestic movers (72 percent, or 16,862 people) came from within the commonwealth, including a fair share from Washington, D.C. suburb Fairfax County. The rest (28 percent, or 6,585 people) came from outside Virginia, with four of the top five sources in the New York or Washington, D.C. areas.

Below are rankings for the top five counties of origin for movers to Richmond:

Movers outside of Virginia:

1. Kings County, NY (Brooklyn): 560 movers
2. Suffolk County, NY (Long Island): 244 movers
3. Hudson County, NJ (Jersey City): 191 movers
4. Washington, DC: 172 movers
5. Hennepin County, Minnesota (Minneapolis): 160 movers

Movers from Virginia:

1. Chesterfield County: 3,661 movers
2. Henrico County: 3,624 movers
3. Fairfax County (part of the Washington, D.C. metro area): 1,289 movers
4. Norfolk (independent city): 649 movers
5. Hanover County: 583 movers

Sources:

U.S. Census Bureau